Matthew Bromberg, former Chief Operations Officer at Zynga Senior Vice President of strategy and operations for Electronic Arts, has been appointed by Unity as their new CEO.

Starting to take the position in May 15, Bromberg will replace interim CEO Jim Whitehurst, a former IBM man, effectively making Whitehurst an executive director of the board. Roelof Botha in step down as chairman of the board and again becomes the lead developer of the board.

After stepping down in the position, Whitehurst said, “It’s been a true honor to serve as Unity’s interim Chief Executive Officer and get to know its passionate employees, community, customers, and partners, I’m looking forward to working closely with Matt to support the Company’s continued commitment to creator success and innovation.”

Bromberg was the general group manager for BioWare until taking over EA’s mobile gaming operations from 2012 to 2016. Leaving EA, Bromberg then served as chief operations officer for mobile game developer Zynga until 2022.

Bromberg said he’s “thrilled to join Unity as it embraces its next chapter”. He added that “I look forward to working with Jim, the Board, and the incredible people of Unity to provide the best integrated platform for creators to bring great games and experiences to their audiences globally while also helping accelerate the Company’s revenue growth and profitability.”

The news comes as Unity’s previous CEO, John Riccitiello, also a former EA veteran, stepped down in October 2023 amid controversies in Unity’s new runtime fee that critics claim can drive out independent game-makers. The attempts to impose the runtime fee backfired due to protests by indie game creators, who claimed that their revenues would be diverted to paying Unity the runtime fee and would only benefit larger studios.

Unity previously announced it wants to lay off at least 1,800 workers in January, about 25 percent of the workforce. The company will release its first quarter financial statements on May 9.